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Honopono Who?

Whether the world’s ills are perpetrated by you or by someone you don’t know, such as a mentally ill person who decides to rob a store and kills someone in the process, you personally are responsible for that act and you need to cleanse yourself.

What? How am I responsible for some nut job?

This is my ridiculously simplified summary of the Hawaiian philosophy of healing or problem resolution, called Ho’oponopono. (Yea, I know, it sounds wacko, but read on.)

In the book “Zero Limits,” by Dr. Joe Vitale and Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len, ho’oponopono is defined as a “process of letting go of toxic energies within you to allow the impact of Divine thoughts, words, deeds and actions.”

And what has ho’oponopono have to do with business? Actually, it can have a very positive impact because it cleanses us of “baggage” that might otherwise block us from seeing opportunities and new ideas for our businesses, solve problems that we had difficulty solving, and attract to us people who inspire us to take a new direction or lead us to a breakthrough.

This process opens up our minds to the power within ourselves to make things happen and attract to us the thoughts and ideas that can completely invigorate our businesses and spur us on to even greater success without any additional effort.

Vitale, who was skeptical at first, discovered through his sessions with Dr. Hew Len that this holistic system could rehabilitate people even from a distance with nothing but concentrated thoughts sent to them through the ether.

Dr. Hew Len’s claim to fame was his work in a Hawai’i State Hospital for the criminally insane. Dr. Hew Len agreed to review the files of the patients. He did not meet or talk with them personally; he did not counsel them; he just reviewed their files over the course of several months. As he did so, he “cleansed” himself of their criminal actions. As a result, the patients began to heal.

In a few months those patients who needed to be shackled no longer needed to be; those heavily medicated could have their medications reduced; the staff, thoroughly negative with high turnover and absenteeism before Dr. Hew Len came, experienced no turnover at all. Some patients, incredibly, were healed to the point of regaining their freedom. Talk about miracles!

When asked how his self-cleansing worked to heal the patients, Dr. Hew Len explained that what he was doing was “cleaning the part of me that I shared with them.”

Let’s go back to the robbery and murder; it’s not that we actually committed the crime, but as co-creators of our own life, we share this crime – the result of millennia of human acts of aggression, unkindness, terrorism, war, unkind thoughts, plots against one another, nation against nation, son against father, brother against brother and so on.

In other words, human history has years of making choices that are devoid of Love. And those choices became part of us. Literally. They are stored memories in our cells – the cells that we share with every other person on the planet.

It is our spiritual connection with all humanity and God, our higher power, or the Divine, that allows healing to take place. We need to understand that we co-created our world – and our life. That said, everything we see, hear, taste, touch, or in any way experience is our responsibility because it is in our life. By cleansing ourselves, we send love, and ask for forgiveness for the transgressions of the individual, because they are part of our life.

Ho’oponopono views problems as “replayed memories of the past showing up to five us one more chance to see with the eyes of love and to act from inspiration.”

Okay, before you “X” out of this post, please let me explain further. Granted, I am not a student of psychiatry, physiology, or medicine, but what I’m talking about is the understanding of the power of thoughts, actions and emotions in mankind and how they propel us into the advancements (or regressions) of the society of Man.

For many years I have puzzled over the fact that nations and cultures who have warred with each other over thousands of years let it go on and on. Or the fact that other cultures, at one time quite advanced compared to others, stopped innovating and progressing, in effect giving up and dying out completely.

Studies of the human condition have resulted in findings that say our thoughts and actions can physically change the cells in our bodies toward susceptibility to disease, cancer, mental illness. And that these changes in our bodies are passed down through the generations.

When one looks at cultures who have been at war with each other for centuries, just because they’ve been at war for centuries, this philosophy makes sense. Otherwise, wouldn’t wars peter out after a few hundred years because people didn’t see the point of it all?

The warring culture becomes part of our physical make up, and unless someone decides to break away and “dishonor” their parents and brethren, they pick up the torch and live to fight another day.

I believe that is what Dr. Hew Len calls living by memories instead of inspiration. Memories, or learned behaviors and thinking can crowd out Divine inspiration that would help us break out of our ruts, change damaging habits or behaviors and create the life that we want.

We want to cleanse ourselves of these “memories” so there are no longer any “limits” between us and Divine inspiration. That inspiration can enter and take us where we want to go. We can become anyone we want; we can earn as much as we want and realize our dreams.

Remember the bible story of Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam and Eve? Cain was jealous of Abel because he seemed to have the favor of God. Cain killed Abel so that God could direct His favor toward him instead. When God asked Cain where his brother was, Cain said, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” God replied angrily that all men were responsible for each other. Bingo.

That story suddenly made sense after reading this book. We are responsible for the lives of our brothers and sisters on this planet. It is our limiting thoughts that prevent us from living up to our responsibilities – which, if you think about it, only require us to cleanse ourselves, thus sending vibrations of love and forgiveness to others across the world.

Now, I’m putting that scenario rather simply, but it’s to illustrate the process of cleansing ourselves, projecting loving thoughts toward others and asking forgiveness (as a human) for the transgressions made by a fellow human.

This practice brings a state of calm you wouldn’t believe. I’ve tried it with fellow drivers who cut me off or honked at me, and by doing so I felt no uptick in blood pressure or anger in myself. The whole incident just melted away.

Dr. Vitale, who was once homeless, has had many miracles come into his life since discovering ho’oponopono. He’s a best-selling author, founder of two companies, one of the stars of the movie “The Secret,” and a multimillionaire.

I’ve just scratched the surface of this very powerful philosophy. I’m still reading “Zero Limits” and I urge you to pick it up or download a copy. I will continue to bring more nuggets from the ho’oponopono philosophy that anyone can practice to some extent in their daily life to bring positive and loving vibrations to a world in need of them.

I’d love to hear your thoughts if you have heard of ho’oponopono or have experience with this very interesting practice.